KATHRYN Whitlow welcomed Pickmere and District WI members to their first meeting of the year in January. There is a beetle drive and supper at Pickmere Village Hall on April 2, and members were asked to think of new ideas to raise money. The speaker for the evening was Helen Shaul, a local author from Pickmere. She talked about writing a novel, how she gets an idea for a story and the various stages before it is sent to the publisher.

Her first book, The Hergonian Way, is available to buy from Amazon. It was fascinating to listen to Helen as she read the first chapter from her second book, The Constantini Pact. She already has an idea for her third book. Helen asked members to close their eyes and imagine that they were being attacked.

They were asked to build a picture in their mind then to open their eyes and write down how they felt, what they could smell and see, etc.

She was thanked for her interesting and fascinating talk. Many members will be downloading Helen’s book The Hergonian Way and The Constantini Pact once it has been published.

Pickmere and District WI celebrated its 65th anniversary with a birthday cake kindly baked and decorated by the president. The competition for the oldest book was won by Joyce Kirkpatrick; 2. Jean Whitlow; 3. Helen Brown, and Kathryn Whitlow and Pat Bowker won the raffle.

The next meeting is on Wednesday, February 26, with speaker Gill Adlington and a talk entitled Painting for Everyone. The competition will be a favourite painting.

Kathryn Whitlow